Life in Brockton Bay
by NickolasNockolas
Summary: Taylor hasn't been back to school since The Locker Incident, and Danny finds out that she's been sneaking out at night. Alt-power fic
1. Chapter 1

Danny

Danny Hebert knew there was something wrong with his daughter. It was 4:13 AM, and she still wasn't home. This was the third night in a row she'd gone out late, when she thought he was asleep, only returning in the early morning to crash and sleep until noon or later.

Danny conjured a thousand hellish scenarios in his mind the first night, wondering what she was doing. He got in his truck and drove throughout the Bay looking for her after an hour of pacing, although his run-in with several ABB members dissuaded him from trying that again. When Taylor asked about the bruises the next day, he said that there'd been an accident made on the Docks by a new hire with some machinery.

The only reason he didn't call the cops in the first place was the knowledge that this wasn't her first time doing this. When she left, he heard her quietly humming to herself cheerfully. Reckless. She stepped with practised ease around the creaking floorboards of the house.

It was the movement of somebody who knew exactly what they were doing, having done it many times before.

4:27 AM. Danny wondered what he would say when his daughter came home. He wasn't exactly a nominee for father of the year. After Annette had died, he'd retreated into himself for _months._ He knew that during this same time, Taylor's best friend had become absolutely rotten to her. They'd been like sisters, once. Losing her mother, and subsequently the rest of her family couldn't have been good for Taylor.

And then there was The Locker Incident. Taylor hadn't been back to school in the month since. On the bright side, she seemed far more happy now than she had since before Annette died. However… he worried for her.

4:35 AM. Footsteps on the front porch. Key jiggling in the lock. Hinges squeaking quietly as the door opens. The soft _chunk_ as the bolt slides into place when the door closes. Shoes tap-tapping down the hallway. The woman he sees appear from the hallway is not his daughter.

It's a cape.

A a rail-thin cape with Annette's hair billowing behind her.

She freezes when she sees him. He freezes when he sees her.

"Fuck."


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter is replacing the old chapter 2, which has been deemed too shitty to exist.

 **Sunday, January 9th, 2011**

Ever since she'd gotten out of the locker, things were... different. Not good, not bad, just strange. When she reached for her journal last night it had seemed to slightly move toward her as she picked it up. She heard whispers, sometimes, when she was relaxed and clear headed, but she couldn't make out the words. But more than anything, Taylor had noticed that people moved around her as though she weren't there when she wanted to be alone.

She knew this wasn't the regular courtesy of leaving her alone when she needed to be alone, this was more. The nurses and doctors simply didn't see her unless they were _really_ looking for her. It was unlike anything she had ever seen; watching Dr. Morrison asking around for Hebert, looking high and low, even under the couch she was sitting on, glancing over where she was, and his eyes just sliding right away.

Taylor realized it wasn't a joke, then. She raised her hand to get his attention, and his gaze instantly sharpened.

"Oh, Taylor! What... uh..."

"Are you okay, Doctor? You zoned out for a second."

She hardly noticed what she was saying. Her mind was moving a mile a minute, but for once, the whispers meant something. They were telling her that should the Doctor find out about her disappearing ability, the results would not be to her liking.

Not in so many words. But the feeling was urgent, and it was insistent that she not expose herself.

After the Doctor had explained that she was to be leaving on the tenth, the following day, she went to her room. It wasn't exactly private, but it was better than being in the social area. There was a dome shaped security camera, and a roommate who looked utterly miserable, simply laying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, but Taylor paid her no mind and laid herself on her own bunk, similarly staring off into nothing in particular. There was only one possible scenario for what had happened. Well, two, but she was really hoping that she hadn't gone insane.

She was a parahuman. _Taylor Hebert_ was a _cape._ She huffed in amazement.

The roommate hummed sadly in agreement, and wiped a tear from her eye.

 **Tuesday, January 11th, 2011**

Two days later, Taylor had made progress. She was now at home, kneeling on the floor, trying to make her journal come to her. It had scooted an inch or two in the last ten minutes or so, so that was good, but it was so slow that she could hardly see it move.

With a frustrated grunt, Taylor extended her hand toward the book. It scooted another inch.

"Yes!" Triumph sent a thrill down her spine, and with new fervor she put her hands in her lap, gazed intently at the book, and _willed-_

It flew at her smacking her dead on the mouth with the corner of the spine. Pain shot through her head like a railroad spike, throbbing in time to her heartbeat.

"Gahh!" Grasping her scalp with one hand and her bleeding lip with the other, she moaned in pain.

A knock came from the door. "Taylor? You alright?"

The door opened before she could answer, and her dad came in and sat beside her. "Taylor, what happened?"

Taylor grunted and gestured vaguely.

"I'll get a washcloth."

He left, leaving a cup of steaming tea beside Taylor. She glared down at the journal, still in pain, but she felt victorious nonetheless. She would keep practicing.


End file.
